Sea-wall



R. B. WILLARD.

SEA WALL.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 14, I919.-

. 1,332,655. Patented Mar. 2,1920.

Emma 3 25. 20M 1* I I ga h fly wavy 17m RUFUS B. WILLARD, 0F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

SEA-WALL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 2, 1920.

Application filed May 14-, 1919. Serial No. 297,074.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RUFUS B. WVILLARD,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the countyof Los Angeles and State of California, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Sea- WValls, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to that class of sea walls ordinarily made ofreinforced concrete panels and used to prevent the action of waves andtides from washing away the sand or other shiftable material comprisingthe shore.

My object is to provide a sea wall of the class described of simpledurable and inexpensive construction, so shaped and arranged that thecrushing impact of huge waves will not be delivered direct upon the seawall, but on the contrary will be divided and a portion only of suchcrushing impact will first strike upon the projecting portions of thethickest and strongest parts of the panels, and of the remainder a partwill strike glancing blows upon the inclined curved portions which tendto divide the waves and direct strong currents inwardly toward thecentral portions of the panels and to thereby create counter currents orwaves to meet and counteract the remaining portions of the incoming waveand to thereby greatly minimize the total crushing impact of a wave uponthe sea wall and also to divide the impact as to time whereby a partonly of a wave exerts its crushing impact upon the wall at one time andthen other parts strike upon the sea wall at a later time, with theresult that I may employ a relatively thin and inexpensive sea wall andobtain as great strength as to Wave resistance as may be obtained by amuch thicker and more expensive sea wall of the ordinary concrete panelconstruction.

In a sea wall of this class it is desirable and advantageous to employlocking tongue and grooved connections between the panels, but in suchconstruction the weakest portions of the wall occur at the groovededges, and in this connection it is one of my objects to protect thisgrooved edge in two waysfirst by forming the forwardly projecting wavedividing portions of the panels at the tongue and grooved edge of thepanels, and second by supplementing the same with reinforcing ribsarranged in pairs one near the tongued edge of one panel and the otherspaced from the grooved edge of the mating panel whereby floating logswreckage or debris carried by the waves against the sea wall will beprevented from striking against the outer surface of the grooved edge ofa panel, and whereby all such impacts will be delivered against thethickest and strongest portion of the panels.

My invention consists in the construction arrangement and combination ofthe various parts of the sea wall whereby the objects contemplated areattained, as hereinafter more fully explained, pointed out in my claimand illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows a sectional perspective View of a sea wall embodying myinvention and Fig. 2 shows an enlarged detail sectional View on the lineXX of Fig. 1.

Referring to the accompanying drawing I have used the reference numeral10 to indicate the cap member of the sea wall preferably having a flathorizontally arranged body portion and an outer edge curved from thebody of the sea wall upwardly and outwardly to deflect spray. Thisportion is usually constructed after the sea wall proper has been placedin position and the upper ends of these panels are embedded in this capportion so that any unevenness of the top ends of these panels iscovered up and concealed by the cap.

Each panel is formed of reinforced concrete preferably in suitable moldsand in the ordinary way. The body portion of the panel is indicated bythe numeral 11. At one vertical edge there is a locking tongue 12 madelocking by having its head slightly larger than its neck portion. At theopposite edge is a locking groove or channel shaped to fit around and toslightly receive the locking tongue. This locking tongue and groovearrangement is useful when the panels are being employed in theconstruction of a sea wall, after one panel is placed in position asecond panel has its tongue inserted in the groove of the positionedpanel and then as the sand or other material is removed from under saidsecond panel (preferably by a water jet under pressure), the lockingtongue and groove co-act in holding the second panel adjacent andparallel with the first as it drops by gravity to position.

The body of each panel is provided with longitudinal reinforcing rods 13and transverse reinforcing rods 14.

On the front or outer face of each panel I have provided adjacent toeach edge a wave impact dividing member 15 projecting forwardly from thebody of the panel, and on the front face of the member 15 at the tongueedge of the panel is a forwardly projecting rib 16 near the verticaledge, and at the thickest portion of the panel adjacent the groove edgeis a corresponding projecting rib 17 spaced from the edge a distancegreater than the depth of the groove so that this ribalso is at thethickest part of the panel.

The edges of the members 15 adj acent the longitudinal center of thepanel are inclined or curved at 18 in such manner that such portions ofa wave as strike against the parts 18 are deflected inwardly parallel tothe front face of the panel as shown by the arrows in Fig. 2, with theresult that counter wave currents are thereby created which tend tocushion the impact of that portion of a wave striking upon the centralportion of the panel.

In practical use and assuming that the sea wall has been placed inposition in the ordinary manner as illustrated in Fig. l and that hugewaves sometimes carrying logs and wreckage are striking upon it; it willbe obviousthat each wave instead of expending its entire force upon thewall in one crushing blow or impact as against a flat faced wall, willhave its force divided, a portion only of the blow or impact being firstdelivered against the thickest and strongest parts of the panels andthen after a perceptible interval of time the remainder of the blow orimpact will be delivered upon the thinner portion of the panels. Howeverthat portion of the wave blow or impact that is delivered upon thethinner or weaker portions of the panels has its force materiallylessened or cushioned by reason of the counter wave currents setup bythe wave deflecting portions 18 so that at no time is the thinner orweaker portionof a panel subjected to such severe shocks as the thickerand stronger portions.

These ribs 16 and 17 serve not only to further divide the time of a waveimpact and to create counter cushioning currents as before explained inconnection with the parts 15 and 18, but in addition those ribs serve toreceive the impact of any floating logs, wreckage, etc., and to preventsame from striking upon the grooved edge of a panel and by arrangingthese ribs as set forth such blows are always received upon the thickestand strongest portions of the panels, hence a relatively thin andinexpensive sea wall may be made as strong for the purpose intended as amuch thicker and expensive sea wall made in the manner now in commonuse.

I claim as my invention A sea wall composed of reinforced concretepanels, each panel having a locking tongue at one edge and a co-actinglocking groove at the other, there being at the front or outer face ofthe panel adjacent each edge an outwardly'projecting wave impactdividing portion, and inclined portions between said wave impactdividing portions and the longitudinal center of the panel, and a rib onthe front face near the tongue edge and a second rib on the front facespaced from thegroove edge for the purposes stated.

Signed at Los Angeles, California, this 26th day of April, 1919.

- RUFUS B. WILLARD. Witnesses:

P. J. QUEALY, B. W. McMANUs'.

